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人財兩空

简人财两空 · 繁人財兩空

Mandarin · pinyin rén cái liǎng kōng

(idiom) to suffer the departure of sb (talented staff or one's spouse etc) and a financial loss as well; to get burned both romantically and financially

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Characters in this entry

人: rén · man; people; mankind; someone else
財: Look up this written character
兩: liǎng · two, both, pair, couple; ounce
空: kōng · empty, hollow, bare, deserted
财: cái · wealth, valuables, riches
两: liǎng · two, both, pair, couple; ounce

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–2–3–1 · ren2 cai2 liang3 kong1

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

人財兩空 · find source passages ↗ · 人财两空 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jan4 coi4 loeng5 hung1

Cantonese word readings for 人財兩空. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

(idiomatic) to lose both people and money

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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